40 govt depts have 1389 contract workers

15 Nov 201706:18am IST

15 Nov 201706:18am IST

Report bySURAJ NANDREKAR suraj@herald-goa.com

With government considering regularising the staff additional burden on exchequer by Rs 58.33 crore

PANJIM: Even as the State has been discussing and debating on lifting the moratorium on recruitment in government departments, information reveals that 1389 persons are working in 40 government departments on contractual basis that need to be looked into first.

This data is only of government departments and does not include that of government corporations and public sector units.

Information availed by Herald reveals that a majority of contract workers have been recruited in the Education, Sports and Public Works Departments.

Data also reveals that Education Department has 31 contract staff, including four primary teachers and 27 laboratory assistants. Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (143) and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (283), together account for 426. Besides this, Department of Higher Education has 44 contract employees, thus taking the total contract employees in the Education sector to 501, which is 36 percent of the total figure of 1389.

After Education, the biggest contract staff employer is Health Department which has 219 staff accounting for 16 percent of the total contract workforce. Tourism (85), PWD (83), Industries (83), Agriculture (36), Women & Child (42) and Tribal Welfare (34) are the other major contract staff employers.

With Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar announcing in the Goa Legislative Assembly that all contract and temporary staff will be regularised by December this would mean a major additional financial burden for the exchequer.

Considering an average salary of Rs 35,000 for each worker, we are looking at approximate Rs 4.8 cr expenditure on their salaries which turns out to Rs 58.33 cr annually, that means the state coffers would be further stressed.

Parrikar recently said recruitment would be on hold until December and thereafter around 5000 posts would be advertised.

Earlier, on contractual workers, Parrikar had assured the state legislative assembly in August saying, “Within four months, we will come out with a clear policy on the contract labourers. Once the draft is ready, all the members of the Legislative Assembly would be taken into confidence for their say.”

The chief minister had been responding to questions raised by the ruling as well as the opposition benches about problems faced by the contractual staff employed in government service.

Parrikar said the policy would come into force from April next year and after that the practice of taking employees on contract basis would stop, except in case someone is on leave. He said the policy would address the issues faced by almost 90 per cent of the government employees, who are on contract.